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Bob's '65 GTO

I mixed up a batch of enamel paint from Alpha 6 to match the interior. I used Teal, Green, and White. Alpha 6 is relatively new to the hobby market but has provided paint for the automotive industry in Detroit for years. The product seems on par with Testors Model Master to me and makes a beautiful finish. The white on the body is also enamel. I used the tealish/turquoise-ish mixture to make a detail stripe along the side. I love it!
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Here is a teaser photo of how everything works together.
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Here is a question for you. I am on the fence whether to paint the lower side edge in chrome or leave it white. I think I want to chrome it because I feel during this era they were putting chrome wherever possible. Any input on that?
 
Agree with Bob but it depends what you are going to use. Alclad for example might not work on a downward panel and just look black in most natural light ? Chrome over flat areas is not easy ? and might look silver metallic ?


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This was my Bentley Rad in Alclad, after a few weeks it had almost returned to gloss black, its almost imposable to seal the finish and keep the chrome effect. You can see how it works well on curved surfaces lie the tap on the bottom but not so well on flat areas.
 
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Agree with Bob but it depends what you are going to use. Alclad for example might not work on a downward panel and just look black in most natural light ? Chrome over flat areas is not easy ? and might look silver metallic ?


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This was my Bentley Rad in Alclad, after a few weeks it had almost returned to gloss black, its almost imposable to seal the finish and keep the chrome effect. You can see how it works well on curved surfaces lie the tap on the bottom but not so well on flat areas.
Any suggestions? I can use Bare Metal Foil instead.
 
I made progress on the engine. I ended up with red plug wires. I made the dipstick from tubing, but the dipstick only goes about 1/8" into it. The vacuum hoses are lead wire. I lost the kit distributor cap so I used a Detail Master kit, which oddly enough, had the right size wire (unlike their "engine detail wire" kit). I made a crude "linkage" from aluminum sheet and copper wire. The spring is gold wire.

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It actually looks OK in person. I tried to build really clean but the stiff wire and superglue made that impossible as I had to fight every millimeter of wire to get the looms on. In retrospect I wish I had not put them on.
 
I have Bob's GTO finished. It is a little disappointing to me, but I think he will like it. The hood is a little warped and I tried heating it then flatten it while it cooled. It is better but I didn't want to go too far and ruin the paint. There are flaws that really shouldn't be there due to a few reverses I had to perform because I forgot something, such as putting in the firewall and radiator before putting on the body. I thought I could do it afterward, but no! UGH! Anyway, here are some photos of the finished car.
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well done Greg! That's a massive motor on that thing!
Thanks! and yes it is LOL. The only thing I wish I had added in the engine compartment would be brake lines coming from the booster (booster?, brake cylinder? Whatever it's called) Not going to lie, but I was getting tired of working on the thing and Bob has come in every other day seeing if it was finished, so I sort of rushed the end.
 
It seems that most styrene plastic won't respond to dewarp with hot water at much less than 190F. That is the sweet spot where the plastic doesn't shrink and needs to be flexed slightly past the "straight" point so that it will spring back to "perfect". Also the immersion time is important as well. I will start at about 180F and immerse it for about 5 seconds then increase to 10 seconds. While the plastic is warm from this, it can be handled safely with bare hands. (don't put your hands in the water though) I have found that 190F and then increase the time from 5, to 10, to 15 and usually someplace in there it will respond to being flexed to the correct shape.
 
It seems that most styrene plastic won't respond to dewarp with hot water at much less than 190F. That is the sweet spot where the plastic doesn't shrink and needs to be flexed slightly past the "straight" point so that it will spring back to "perfect". Also the immersion time is important as well. I will start at about 180F and immerse it for about 5 seconds then increase to 10 seconds. While the plastic is warm from this, it can be handled safely with bare hands. (don't put your hands in the water though) I have found that 190F and then increase the time from 5, to 10, to 15 and usually someplace in there it will respond to being flexed to the correct shape.
That is extremely helpful! I need to write these in a notebook 🧐🤔
 
Greg, if you really want to see some serious work on de-warping some parts check out this link. I was building the new (at the time) 1/350 scale K'Tinga Klingon ship from the first movie. Apparently Round 2 had some problems with the first batch and I ended up with one of the problem kits. I was able to straighten all the warped parts without too much trouble. In this build I gave some really good step by step processes as there were a lot of weird little problems. Check it out
1/350 scale K'Tinga build
 
Greg, if you really want to see some serious work on de-warping some parts check out this link. I was building the new (at the time) 1/350 scale K'Tinga Klingon ship from the first movie. Apparently Round 2 had some problems with the first batch and I ended up with one of the problem kits. I was able to straighten all the warped parts without too much trouble. In this build I gave some really good step by step processes as there were a lot of weird little problems. Check it out
1/350 scale K'Tinga build
I have your tutorial on de-warping bookmarked for future reference!
 
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